


Chris' Bunk

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [159]
Category: The Martian - All Media Types
Genre: Chris just wants Mark to be okay, M/M, Mark is fed up not being able to do anything, and also his, back on the Hermes, shhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 15:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7981183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back on the Hermes, Mark is essentially not allowed out of Chris Beck's bunk.</p><p>Excuse him: the med bay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chris' Bunk

**Author's Note:**

> This is another short little prompts from Tumblr.
> 
> No warnings really. Mark is pretty beat up, he wants Chris, Chris wants him, Mark's slightly worried about the affects of near starvation and isolation and the rest on his body/attractiveness, but not that much.

Mark could totally fix the heating issue in the _Hermes_  in about five minutes, if it’s what he thinks it is. Fifteen to forty-five, if it’s not. A few hours, on the outside. He’s an engineer. He’s an astronaut, the engineer NASA chose for this mission. He knows the systems of the _Hermes_ in, out, and sideways.

So fixing the heating issue and getting their bunks back would take less time than it does to send a round-trip communication to Earth. But Beck won’t even let him out of bed, so he can go take a look.

“Doctor’s orders,” he just says smugly.

Which means Mark is sleeping in the medbay–which is, in all honesty, Beck’s bunk–still, and all the other crew members are rotating sleeping cycles so there will be bunks available. Except for Beck. Beck is squishing in with Mark to “make sure he doesn’t take a turn for the worse.” Mark’s pretty sure squishing should go against doctor’s orders when he’s recovering from broken ribs, but nonetheless, they squish night after night. Beck’s very careful about it.

He’s not allowed to check on his plants, and he’s sure this is merely an excuse to hide how the crew managed to kill them while he was stuck on Mars. He’s not allowed to look over his beloved ship, which is probably held together with ducttape and prayers at this point. Hell, he’s not even allowed to go get his own meals. Beck or another crew member bring them to him, in increasingly large quantities, trying to get his weight back up.

He’s allowed to use the bathroom. He can piss unsupervised but showers are apparently still an exhibitionist activity. He doesn’t complain so much about that one, considering he _did_  nearly pass out once, but it’s annoying, to have someone watch you every second when all he wants is a shower.

Basically, he’s stuck in a bunk and while the rest of the crew visits him regularly, they all have duties. Oh, Beck has duties too. But Beck is the _doctor_. So Mark is pretty much his duty.

Once upon a time, Mark might have said he would give anything for complete, uninterrupted time for days on end with Doctor Chris Beck. Once upon a time, Mark would have been young and dumb.

It’s not that…okay, he still _likes_  Chris. Maybe too much. But having your crush watch you shower when you look like an emaciated twig? Not hot. Having him watch you with doctor’s eyes, waiting for you to fall over? The opposite of helpful.

Still, Mark’s trying to be a good sport. Or a decent enough sport. Mostly because he spent eighteen months on Mars and human contact is fucking wonderful, thank you. He smiles when Chris comes back with food. “Hey, Handsome.”

He blushes. He didn’t used to do that. Or Mark never saw, anyways.

“You’re blushing,” he decides to point out. Because he can.

“Eat your dinner,” is Chris’ answer.

Mark begins to eat his admittedly quite enjoyable cereal back. “Hey, Chris?” he asks around a mouthful.

“Yeah?” Chris asks, busying himself with his computer. Probably updating NASA on Mark’s condition. Again. Traitor.

“If you wanted me to stay in your bed forever, all you had to do was say.”

It was meant as a joke, but Chris blushes furiously nevertheless. 

Mark grins. “You _do_  want me in your bed, do you?” Chris’ mouth opens but no sound comes out. Mark decides to take the plunge. Surviving everything Mars had to throw at him has made him less afraid of the smaller things. “I’m not exactly opposed to being here. I might want to be able to see my plants during daylight hours. Get back to work. Do my job, you know? But at night…” He waggles his eyebrows.

Chris laughs. “You are a long way from anything of the sort,” he says firmly. “But, if…we’ll consider you getting back to work in the morning.”

Mark grins. “I’m sure the rest of the crew will thank you for functioning bunks.”

“Right.”

Mark snorts. “I promise I’ll come back. Let you play doctor all you want.”

Chris snorts. “I think that means something different to you than it does to me. Because to me, you just volunteered for a full physical on Monday.”

“Chris! Work with me here!”

Chris’ face goes soft. “Let’s go to bed, Mark,” he says. “And tomorrow we’ll see about light duty.”

Mark’s not sure if he’s grinning from the promise of light duty or the way Chris spoons up behind him. Probably a mixture of both.


End file.
